Basic Sit and Go Strategy

Sit and Go tournaments are a fun way to build your bankroll and gain experience that also applies nicely to large multi-table tournaments. If you're new to sit and go tournaments (SNGs from now on), this basic strategy guide will get you off to a fast start.

You may have heard before that SNGs need to be played for first place - and that advice is correct. Many breakeven and losing SNG players only play SNGs with the goal of making it to the money. This is a style that will get you more place finishes but, over the long term, the majority of your money comes from first place finishes.

Keeping this in mind, SNGs can be divided up into four main phases: early level, mid level, the bubble and late stage. During the early and middle levels, your focus should remain on playing tight and looking for solid opportunities to double up. As the SNG approaches the late stage, you'll want to shift your focus more towards aggression and chip stealing.

Early Level SNG Strategy

In the early level of a SNG there are usually 7-10 players remaining, chip stacks are fairly equal and the blinds are small in relation to stack sizes.

You should approach the early stage of a SNG with more of a wait-and-see attitude than with an aggressive strategy. During the early stages people will be wasting their stacks by playing weak hands and trying to double up early. Your chips become more valuable later in the tournament so use this time to wait for premium hands and take notes on your opponents.

In the early level you will want to play extremely tight from early position and almost as tight from late position. Stick to premium pairs like AA, KK, QQ and big cards like AKo and AKs. In late position you can open up your game a little bit but don't overdo it. Small pocket pairs can occasionally be played from late position but only if several people are already in the pot and there hasn't been a raise.

Don't worry; you won't have to play this tight for very long. The real opportunities will present themselves later in the game. For now, just play tight, take notes and only get involved when you have a strong hand.

Mid Level SNG Strategy

In the middle level the blinds have gone up a couple times and a couple players have been knocked out. There will usually be 6-8 players left at this point.

By this time most of the reckless players have been eliminated and you can start looking for a few more opportunities. If any maniacs are remaining, play tight and let them knock each other out. If the game is starting to tighten up, you can open up your game a little in late position by stealing chips with well-timed raises. Take note on the players to your left. If they call often and play a lot of hands, you don't want to try stealing yet. But if they like fold, steal as much as you can.

In early position you still want to play extra tight. There are too many players remaining for you to play weak hands from early position.

SNG Bubble Strategy

The bubble stage is when there are 4-5 players left and the blinds are starting to take a decent chunk out of everyone's stack.

Barring any bad beats, you'll make it to this stage of the tournament quite often if you play tight in the early stages. Your patience has paid off and you can now start making some money.

SNGs tighten up dramatically during the bubble stage as the people who are playing to make the money tighten up in the hopes that someone else will bust out first. This is the perfect time for you to get out there and start slinging some chips around.

Steals are much more effective during the bubble stage because the remaining players can almost smell the money by now. If you've maintained your stack by playing tight, it represents a major threat to anyone who stands in your way.

Since the average raise in a SNG is 3 big blinds and the blinds have become larger, your 3BB raises send the message out that anyone who wants to fight back is going to have to commit most of his stack.

This is the perfect time to steal the blinds. Your opponents will be tightening up at the same time the blinds become worth stealing. Make a raise every time it folds around to you when you're in middle or late position. You need to start accumulating some chips here because the blinds are getting bigger and coming around faster.

SNG Late Stage Strategy

The late stage begins when there are only 3 players left and everyone has made the money. Usually the game will loosen up again for a short time at this point because is happy just to have made the money.

If you worked hard and stole a lot during the bubble, you'll enter the late stage with a formidable stack size and fearsome image. Use that stack to your advantage and steal every single chance you get. Your cards don't matter. Just steal as many blinds as you can. If you slow down here, the blinds will quickly eat you up. Most of your steal attempts will just be all-in shoves because the blinds are so big.

Eventually the blinds will get so large that the tournament turns into a crapshoot all-in fest. That's ok though because if you've been aggressive during the tournament, your stack size alone will give you a major advantage over the competition.

If at any time the other two players get involved in a large pot, sit out and let them knock each other out. Every time someone gets eliminated now, you move up in the prize ladder.

Conclusion

The SNG strategy in this article is time tested and works if followed. Many players know about this strategy but they fail to implement it - probably because it feels unnatural to play tight when you have a big stack and to play aggressive when you have a small stack. You will do very well in SNGs if you have the discipline to stick with it.